Let It Snow
by Florencia7
Summary: A Sparrabeth Christmas story. Two-shot set post-AWE.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a holiday two-shot dedicated to the wonderful Willofthewisp & written in response to her prompt: _Jack and Elizabeth crash a Christmas party. _The second chapter will be posted later today or tomorrow :)

**I would like to wish you all a Magical & Merry Christmas! :):):)**

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack, Elizabeth, etc. I guess I also don't own Santa Claus ;)

**Let It Snow**

**Chapter 1**

"It's _snowing_!" Elizabeth exclaimed in bafflement when Jack, stifling an amused smile at the hint of something close to accusation in her voice, finally unwrapped from around her head a piece of black lace that was covering her eyes.

"You surely must have seen the snow before, love? When you were little and caused relatively little trouble?" Jack asked with a small smirk, draping a warm coat around Elizabeth's shoulders.

"It's not the snow that I find strange," she said through her teeth, sliding her arms into the sleeves, and turning to face Jack. "I find it strange that we are here!" she said looking around. "Wherever hereis. Where are we, Jack?" she asked, not for the first time but this time actually expecting him to give her an answer.

But he only flashed her a roguish smile in response. "We're here to find the map that leads to the Fountain of Youth."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I know that! But can't you just say-"

"I would if I could but I can't. Savvy?"

"No, not savvy at all!" she said irritatedly, squinting at him when he waved a pair of red mittens in front of her face. "They don't match the coat," she said, shifting her eyes from the mittens to Jack's face.

He pouted. "Of course they do. Red and green look fabulous together."

"Maybe they just don't look fabulous on you," she retorted, looking herself and then him up and down. Jack pouted even more. "Why are we wearing the same clothes?" she demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

"We're not wearing the same clothes, Lizzie," Jack said with a twitch of his nose. "I'm wearing mine, and you're wearing yours." Elizabeth huffed in exasperation. "But if you so wish, love, I'm perfectly willing to share my clothes with you. There is plenty of room under this coat," Jack said, pointing to the coat he was wearing.

"I would jump off the ship if we were on a ship right now," Elizabeth said, walking past him, and immediately almost falling to the ground, surprised by the amount of snow and by how difficult walking in such high snow was. "We are at the end of the world!" she exclaimed, looking around in disbelief. All she could see was _snow_. Snow, snow, snow, and...

… a one horse open sleigh very near them.

She shot Jack a look over her shoulder.

He grinned, extending his arms. "I'm Captain-"

"I'm Captain!" she cut him off, climbing onto the sleigh. "Seeing how we've been sailing on _my_ ship for the last several months while searching for yours," she said under her breath.

Jack put a hurt expression on his face, climbing onto the sleigh next to her, shoulders hunched. "One would expect you to behave friendlier on Christmas Eve, love" he muttered, producing a red hat from under his coat and putting it on Elizabeth's head.

She took the hat off her head but after a brief examination put it back on.

* * *

Despite the beautiful scenery that Elizabeth secretly found most enchanting, she remained easily annoyed, inquisitive, and unimpressed all the way until the house came into view.

Jack bit back a smile when she suddenly fell silent, her eyes widening. "What is that?" she whispered.

"This is the house where we have every reason to believe the map leading to the Fountain of Youth is kept," Jack said, slightly glaring at the horse for not wishing to move any faster (and from time to time not wishing to move _at all_).

Elizabeth did not say anything, just stared at the breathtaking, most beautifully decorated and illuminated house she had ever seen.

"Why if somebody is home?" she asked, struck by an idea upon noticing that nearly every window in the house was incredibly bright.

Jack cleared his throat. "Somebody is most certainly home, 'Lizbeth. In fact, the house is probably full of... people and they're having a marvelous party there at this very moment."

Elizabeth widened her eyes at him. "Do you really think that's the best time for sneaking inside, then?" she asked incredulously.

Jack gave her an astonished look. "Of course! Nobody will notice us in such a crowd, especially in these spectacular costumes I supplied us with."

"Except that these spectacular costumes beg to be noticed," Elizabeth snapped.

Jack gave her a lop-sided smile. "Not among dozens of identical ones."

* * *

"Keep walking!" Jack said under his breath, pulling Elizabeth by her coat sleeve with him before she had a chance to take a closer look at the guests gathered in a bright ballroom downstairs.

She wondered how Jack knew the house so well that they had managed to sneak upstairs virtually unnoticed. She did not think asking him would do any good but decided to ask him nonetheless. He mumbled something about having seen the drawings of it and then requested her to be quiet.

"Stop giving me orders!..." she whispered irately.

"Am not!" Jack whispered back, tightening his grip around her wrist when he felt her slow down her steps again.

Elizabeth huffed in annoyance, unhappy about not being able to blend in, if only for a brief while.

The music that she could hear was so joyous and beautiful and it reminded her of the happiest Christmas parties at her home in England… with both of her parents…

"You said nobody would notice us in the crowd!" she argued, following Jack into a room.

"But I didn't say that we actually have to test that, did I?" Jack answered, glancing right and left around the corridor before closing the door behind them.

Elizabeth looked at him with a frown but then noticed her surroundings, once again caught off guard by the sight.

She had never seen such an astounding collection of books before. It was the largest personal library she had ever had the pleasure of visiting. For a longer while she just stood in silence marveling at the dark-wooden shelves filled with the impossible to count number of books of all sizes and titles in all imaginable languages.

Jack, on the other hand, seemed perfectly composed, albeit slightly distressed.

"Jack?"

He looked at her, his eyebrows knitted in thought.

"Do you know where _exactly _the map is?" she asked, looking at him intently.

Jack's nose twitched. "It's in here."

"Do you need help defining what _exactly_ means?" she squinted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I need help finding the map," Jack said, narrowing his eyes in an artificial smile.

Elizabeth gave him a disbelieving look. "You can't be ser-"

But before she had the time to finish her sentence, Jack suddenly caught her hand and pulled her behind the door.

"What-" she started but he kissed her, cutting her off, and she had to dig her fingernails in his coat really hard in order to keep herself from falling when he broke the kiss, leaving her breathless and stupefied, staring up at him in complete bafflement.

He had not even _tried _to kiss her since he had come to her offering to take her on a journey to find the Fountain of Youth… granted she would have been as kind as to provide a ship while the _Black Pearl_ was not recovered from Barbossa's slimy, treacherous, usurpatory, hideous- (at which point she had placed a bottle of rum in front of him so he had stopped).

It was not until a couple of months later when her initial appreciation of his most immaculate moral conduct had turned into aggravation. But of course there was nothing to be done and she could not have possibly let it show that it had bothered her. Not that she would have actually let him kiss her if he had tried… but since he had not tried, thinking about how she would have reacted was quite pointless. And the fact that it was pointless had aggravated her even more.

Myriads of thoughts ran through her head at once when he drew back but before she managed to voice any of them she noticed that somebody was in the room and it dawned on her that he had kissed her only to silence her. They were standing right behind the door that remained open, hiding them from being seen. Elizabeth bit her lip, glaring daggers at Jack.

He widened his eyes at her, seemingly surprised by the harsh look on her face. He pointed to tiny flowers of mistletoe strapped to their hats and she could clearly see amusement sparkling in his eyes but there was also something else she could not quite place… and it somehow made her anger fade, if only a little.

"Which one were we supposed to bring?"

The voice averted Elizabeth's attention from Jack, and she slightly tilted her head to the side, catching a glimpse of the figures in the room. There were three of them, contemplating one of the shelves, all of them wearing green coats and red hats exactly like the ones she and Jack were wearing.

"South America!" the other figure said, reaching for one of the books. "It's this one. Here. All the new addresses from the area."

Elizabeth glanced at Jack who was currently busy staring up at the ceiling. She rolled her eyes but then froze when the three… "people" turned around and headed for the door, book in hand.

Even after the door closed behind them Elizabeth continued blinking, trying to understand what she had just seen.

"Jack?" she hissed and he winced, apparently expecting to hear his name in the very tone. "Jack!" she shook him by the lapels of his coat. "What is going on here?"

"We're here to find-" he started but she cut him off.

"Stop repeating that! Tell me where we are and what is going on! I saw those… those… I don't even know who they are but they're most certainly not people!... Jack! Where are we? Whose house is this?"

He looked at her with a slightly childish frown on his face, still obviously reluctant to answer her question. "I don't see how this is relevant in any way to what we're here for," he said with a pout.

"Jack!"

"Shhh!" he covered her mouth with his hand, immediately reminding her of the kiss, causing an involuntary shiver to run through her. She clenched her teeth certain that he had noticed her reaction. But even if he had, he chose not to mention it. "You don't want them to catch us here, do you?"

Elizabeth brushed Jack's hand off her face. "I want to know where we are!" she demanded in a quiet but determined voice.

Jack sighed.

A flicker of light captured Elizabeth's attention and her eyes darted to a tall window at the end of the room. There, against the darkening sky, among the falling snowflakes she suddenly saw something so incredible that for a moment she just stood transfixed, unable to utter a word.

Following her gaze, Jack also turned around and they both just looked at what they were seeing in silent wonder. They slowly made their way closer toward the window.

A beautiful, seemingly endless golden sleigh decorated with mistletoe, lights and ribbons descended from the sky and landed in front of the mansion, causing all the guests from the ballroom to come outside to greet the man in a red coat and then beginning to work on filling the empty sleigh with countless, colorful boxes, bags and packages among merrily exchanged words, enchanting music and gleeful laughter.

When at last Elizabeth managed to collect her thoughts she shifted her eyes to Jack who kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Jack, tell me this isn't true," she said quietly.

"What isn't true?" Jack asked with as much innocence in his voice as he could muster.

"Tell me that..." she drew a breath, "that we're not stealing from Santa Claus," she whispered, looking at him in sincere dismay.

Jack gave her a bright smile. "Of course not!"

Elizabeth's face relaxed a bit but only until Jack added:

"We're just going to _borrow_ the map from him!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews & I hope you're having a joyous Christmas Day! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own _PotC_.

**Chapter 2**

"Lizzie, wait!"

Jack ran after her when she turned to leave.

"I'm not stealing from Santa Claus!" she exclaimed so loud that Jack began waving his hands in front of her in a rather frantic manner.

"First of all, I really intend to only borrow the map. Secondly, how is stealing from Santa Claus any different than stealing from anybody else? May I remind you who helped me to tear out a certain page from a certain Code not so long ago?"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "It was… a higher necessity. Besides, The Code is common good," she added, thrusting up her chin to make up for the lack of confidence in her voice. "As a pirate, as the Pirate King! I can do whatever I want with it."

"You wouldn't believe how much rum I'd be willing to give up just to see you deliver this explanation to Teague," Jack said with a lop-sided smile.

"I'm serious, Jack," Elizabeth said in a truly serious voice. "I'm not taking anything from here!" she said, extending her hand toward the knob but before she reached it, the door opened and a tall man appeared in the doorway, his white beard sparkling in the well-lit room, his clothes sprinkled with snowflakes, his eyes glittering with contagious joviality.

Jack and Elizabeth's faces quickly adjusted to the season becoming noticeably pale.

But Santa Claus did not seem startled by the sight of strangers in his library.

"Are you the new elves?" he asked with a broad smile, quickly taking in their appearance.

Jack's eyes glimmered at this assumption and he was about to vigorously confirm, however, Elizabeth interrupted him.

"No, we are just... leaving," she said, feeling very uncomfortable looking Santa Claus straight in the eyes. "There's been a... a... a mistake! We're very sorry for the intrusion."

She began moving toward the door, Jack following in her wake but before they walked into the corridor, Santa Claus spoke again:

"Have you been looking for something here?" he asked with sincere interest.

Jack and Elizabeth turned to face him, very quickly shaking their heads in unison.

Apparently, Santa Claus found this very amusing because he laughed, his laughter reverberating in the entire house.

Both Jack and Elizabeth stiffened, expecting the change of mood and a severe punishment to follow but instead Santa Claus pointed his finger at them and said in a most cheerful voice:

"You are very funny!"

Elizabeth let go of a breath she did not know she had been holding.

Jack blinked. "Funny?" he asked cautiously.

Elizabeth elbowed him.

Santa Claus tilted his head to the side, regarding them with a smile. "I've read about you very recently."

"Read about us?" Elizabeth echoed in a faltering voice.

Santa Claus laughed again. "Naughty!" he said, shaking his finger at them. "Both of you!" he said, chuckling to himself as he walked toward one of his bookshelves.

Jack and Elizabeth were so stunned they did not even exchange a look with each other while Santa Claus was not looking.

"Oh, here it is," Santa Claus said joyfully, looking through one of the books and turning toward them again. "Elizabeth... Swann, isn't it?" he said, glancing at Elizabeth from above the pages. Elizabeth nodded mechanically. "And... Jack..." Jack opened his mouth to make the necessary correction but to his surprise Santa Claus corrected himself. "_Captain_ Jack Sparrow!" He looked up at Jack who smiled at him weakly.

Santa Claus' eyes shifted back to the book. He quickly skimmed through the pages, different emotions passing through his face but somehow all of them were laced with recurring happy smiles and when he finally looked at his guests again, his face was beaming with perfect joy. "So you're looking for the Fountain of Youth?" he asked smilingly.

Elizabeth was about to protest but Santa Claus gave her such an amused look that she understood there was no point in lying.

"We were hoping to... borrow a map leading to the Fountain of Youth..." she admitted reluctantly, receiving a mockingly surprised by her choice of words look from Jack.

"Why didn't you say so already?" Santa Claus exclaimed happily, proceeding to rummage through his shelves for a while before producing a tattered roll from behind the books on one of the shelves. "The Fountain of Youth..." he muttered thoughtfully to himself, unfurling the map and studying it for a moment. "But you do know there is a catch?" he asked, looking to Jack and Elizabeth again, and Elizabeth noticed that for the first time during the conversation his eyes sparkled with more serious emotions.

"A catch?" Jack repeated.

"What kind of catch?" Elizabeth inquired, wrinkling her forehead.

Santa Claus sighed. "Well, I can't tell you but... perhaps by the time you find the Fountain you'll know what the catch is and whether the risk is worth taking?" he said mysteriously with sudden gentleness, shifting his smiling eyes between them and handing the map over to them.

Jack and Elizabeth exchanged a hesitant look.

"Now," Santa Claus rubbed his hands together. "Do you have any Christmas wishes? What is it that you want most?" he asked, startling both Jack and Elizabeth with this particular question. "I don't have much time. It's Christmas Eve today, after all!" He chuckled. "Lots of places to visit and presents to deliver. So..."

"Oh, we wouldn't dare-" Elizabeth started but Santa Claus hushed her with a gleeful smile.

"I have to admit I can read your thoughts, so this is really a formality but a necessary formality nonetheless," he said with a wink. "Come here, my dear," he said, beckoning Elizabeth closer.

After a moment of consideration and a look at Jack, Elizabeth slowly made her way toward Santa Claus who slightly leaned down to make it easier for her to whisper her wish into his ear.

Once she walked away, it was Jack's turn. Elizabeth watched him whisper his wish, trying to hear what he was whispering but no avail.

When the wishes had been told, Santa Claus laughed again. "You're both _really_ funny," he said shaking his head and Jack could not help slightly narrowing his eyes at him.

Jack and Elizabeth explained that they were already in the possession of a one horse open sleigh but Santa Claus only waved his hand on that in a dismissive gesture.

He walked them out of the mansion but instead of letting them go to where their sleigh was waiting, he asked one of the elves to take care of it. Then, to Jack and Elizabeth's utter astonishment he invited them into his sleigh, offering to drop them anywhere they considered most convenient – anywhere they would like to find their presents waiting for them.

* * *

Dashing through the snow – and more amazingly through the air! - in the beautiful, moonlit night, they arrived in an exotic port where they said a good-bye to Santa Claus. He wished them happiness and asked to let him know how their quest would end... Then he remembered that he was going to find out and read about their quest anyway hahahaha Elizabeth shot Jack a scolding look when he rolled his eyes.

They watched Santa Claus ride away in his glittering sleigh and disappear from view and from the night sky along with his laughter that seemed to reverberate in the air even after they could not see him anymore.

"I wonder if-" Jack started but fell silent, rendered speechless by the sight.

Elizabeth followed his gaze, stifling a chuckle.

Jack glanced right and left, blinked, rubbed his forehead and eyes. "I don't understand..." he mumbled, his eyes fixed on the _Black_ _Pearl_ docked right next to them, looking beautiful and magnificent against the black, moonlit sky.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, a bit puzzled by his reaction. He turned to look at her. "You don't like your present?" she asked, biting her lip.

Jack frowned. "It's just not... it's not what I... I actually didn't..." he trailed off upon noticing an amused smile flitting across Elizabeth's face. "Lizzie..." he said in a different voice, a hint of anxiety in it.

Elizabeth laughed. "Don't tell me it's not what you wanted most?"

He was silent for just a split second but her heart skipped a bit nonetheless.

"Of course it was," he said, averting his eyes from her. "But why did you do that? Why did you wasted your wish on me?" he asked, looking at her again.

She smiled and shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to my mind." He looked at her so intensely that it made her smile falter a bit. He leaned toward her and she drew a breath.

"If you think that it was what I wanted most..." he said, glancing at her lips and then focusing on her eyes again, reminding her of a moment that seemed simultaneously so far and so near... "How did you know I wouldn't ask for it myself?" he asked with a small smirk that did not reach his eyes which remained strikingly serious.

"So what did you ask for?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

His face fell a bit at her question and she arched an eyebrow when his eyes traveled to the sea as if he was expecting to see something beside the _Black_ _Pearl_ there. "If I tell you I'll ruin the surprise," he said with a smile that she thought was curiously sour.

"You wished for something... for me?" she asked with a small smile. He did not say anything, just looked at her in that strange, sad way so she continued, trying to shake off the impression. "It's odd that my present is not here yet. Santa Claus said our wishes would come true at the same time."

Jack blinked, suddenly remembering that Santa Claus had indeed said something like that. "Aye," he said, looking around.

Elizabeth gave him a questioning look but he only shrugged his shoulders in response. She rolled her eyes. "Jack. Tell me what you wished for. I don't want to be standing here forever and waiting for something to happen!"

Jack rubbed his forehead, twitching his nose, and still stealing glances at their surroundings.

"Jack!"

He pouted.

"Jack!"

"Alright!" He waved his hands at her, sighing in exasperation. "I wished... I wished for you to spend this Christmas with the person with whom you'd like to spend this Christmas most," he said so quickly that it took a moment for his words to register in her mind.

"Oh," she said after a pause and he could not decipher her thoughts from the look in her eyes.

"But it seems that Santa Claus decided to fulfill only one of our wishes," Jack said, looking away, his heart hammering in his chest.

For a moment all he could hear was the sound of the waves leaping against the _Black_ _Pearl_'s hull.

"What makes you think that?" Elizabeth asked barely above a whisper, her voice so soft, and serious, and almost sad.

He slowly shifted his eyes back to her. She smiled, bringing her face closer to his.

He lifted his hand, slowly running his fingertips across her cheek. "Lizzie..."

"Jack! You're here!"

Jack and Elizabeth drew apart, watching Gibbs run toward them.

Jack gave Elizabeth a mockingly questioning look.

"It's so good-" Gibbs started, trying to catch his breath.

"Mr. Gibbs. That is most disappointing," Jack said in a very severe voice causing Gibbs to blink repeatedly in puzzlement. "I certainly didn't expect that. Not from you!"

Gibbs stared at him, utterly confused. He looked to Elizabeth for assistance but to his further puzzlement she burst out laughing, and before Gibbs managed to say anything Jack laughed as well.

"If you're in such good moods I presume you've got the map?" Gibbs asked hopefully, shifting his eyes between them, not even trying to guess why they were laughing.

"Aye," Jack said, twitching his nose. "But there is a catch," he said, producing the map from under his coat.

"A catch?" Gibbs asked, wrinkling his forehead. "What kind of catch?"

Jack grinned, handing him the map. "That's for you to find out, Mr. Gibbs. We got the map. Now it's your turn to contribute to our adventure."

And with that, Jack took Elizabeth's hand in his and they headed for the _Black Pearl_, Morning Star already bright on the horizon.


End file.
